The Economist UK - 29.02.2020

14 The EconomistFebruary 29th 2020

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Letters

Purpose-driven business

Last year you asked, “What are

companies for?” (August 24th

2019) and concluded that they

should stick to business-as-

usual in the form of share-

holder primacy. This month

you repeated this message,

telling chief executives to

“forget trying to run the world”

and focus on serving the long-

term interests of their business

owners (“Meet the new boss”,

February 8th). Your consisten-

cy is laudable. However, this

position ignores the adverse

impact of market failures and

the shareholder-first model

that has contributed so much

to our social and environ-

mental crises, not least the

existential threat of climate

change.

Fortunately a growing

number of companies out

there recognise that this

threatens the viability and

legitimacy of business. They

know that their purpose needs

to include creating the long-

term social and environmental

capital that underpins their

shareholder returns, and that

this is in their own immediate

interests in attracting and

motivating talent, driving

innovation, building trust and

increasing performance.

This is a crucial year in

which world leaders will ex-

plore a new deal for nature at

the Convention on Biodiversity

in China, and seek agreement

on reaching net zero carbon

emissions by 2050. Unless

business plays a key role in

tackling the world’s greatest

challenges, it will certainly

discover the true meaning of

“disruption” on a global scale.

dame polly courtice

Director

Institute for Sustainability

Leadership

University of Cambridge

You suggest that today’s bosses

must “be physically fit to with-

stand the brutal workload”

(“Take me to a leader”, February

8th). This is a modern preju-

dice. Is there any evidence that

fitter bosses are higher per-

forming? Sergio Marchionne

and Herb Kelleher were chain-

smokers who transformed

their industries (cars and

airlines). Bill Gates possibly

skips cross-fit. And Warren

Buffett proudly claims to eat

“like a six-year-old”. Being fit is

good in itself, but there is no

concrete conclusion thatceos

absolutely need to be highly

athletic. Good looks are surely

a powerful halo effect, but let’s

not bar bread-eaters from the

corporate suite just yet.

conal campbell

Celbridge, Ireland

Gender preferences

The Free exchange on social

norms was muddled (February

8th). Apparently gender earn-

ings disparities persist but

(and this seems to disturb you)

they may partly reflect differ-

ent preferences by men and

women. But look, the column

says, preferences too can be

changed; they are “socially

determined”.

Why should policymakers,

never mind economists, want

to change these preferences?

What, exactly, is wrong with

women tending to prefer chil-

dren and home and men pre-

ferring work and career? Econ-

omists laud division of labour

in other businesses, why not in

the family also? Just what

principle lies behind the idea

that men and women should

have identical preferences?

professor john staddon

Department of Psychology and

Neuroscience

Duke University

Durham, North Carolina

Free speech in Qatar

Your article on Qatar did not

reflect the reality of freedom of

expression in the country and a

law that has been amended to

prevent the spread of false and

malicious information

(“Tamim the gloriously toler-

ant”, February 15th). Similar

legislation exists in many

democratic countries. In

France a law was introduced in

2018 to tackle the manipulation

of information and its deliber-

ate dissemination. As the

target of sustained state-spon-

sored disinformation cam-

paigns, “deep fakes” and cyber-

attacks, Qatar understands the

dangers of information

manipulation better than

anyone. In line with theun’s

covenant on civil and political

rights, to which Qatar is fully

committed, this amendment

was passed as a protection

against major, co-ordinated

hacking and disinformation

operations trying to fracture

the region. It is not open to

abuse and will not limit ex-

pression, speech or reporting

in or about Qatar.

No country has done more

than Qatar to improve media

freedom in the region. The

debate on this amendment

from within Qatar itself, in-

cluding from local media and

social-media users, demon-

strates that individuals and

platforms can criticise a law

without consequence.

thamer al thani

Deputy director

Government Communications

Office

Doha, Qatar

Remembering a war atrocity

There are a lot of 75th com-

memoration events marking

the second world war. One

incident less famous than

Dresden (“The inferno”, Febru-

ary 8th) was commemorated in

the Dutch village of Putten last

year. In early October 1944, 600

men were sent to German work

camps in retaliation for the

killing of a German officer by

the resistance. Few returned. I

was only five at the time but I

still have vivid memories of the

episode. Lots of similar stories

can be told about other villages

in occupied Europe that have

gone mostly unreported. A

recent novel, “The Weeping

Woman of Putten” by Alyce

Bailey, tells the tale.

walter schuit

Torrejón de Ardoz, Spain

The EU puts Europeans first

The Economistrepeats a myth

that Brexit was about England

turning in on itself, as if sup-

porting membership of the eu

is a sign of internationalism

(Bagehot, February 1st). The

opposite is true. The eucreated

a system that favours other

Europeans over everyone else.

This is most obviously mani-

fest in freedom of movement,

which allows any eucitizen to

move to any eucountry, while

at the same time erecting

barriers against immigration

from outside the eu. Hard-core

Remainers, convinced of their

own enlightened liberalism,

refuse to acknowledge this

gross injustice. Oddly enough,

supposedly xenophobic and

uneducated Brexiteers have no

difficulty understanding the

unfairness and outdated Euro-

centric nature of eupolicies.

nicolas groffman

Reading, Berkshire

Bagehot described Mark Fran-

cois as the “Captain Mainwar-

ing of the European Research

Group of mps”. Mr Francois is

more like Private Walker in

“Dad’s Army”, the black-marke-

teer in Mainwaring’s platoon.

The propaganda espoused by

Mr Francois and his fellow

Brexiteers included assurances

that leaving “won’t cost you

much”, Walker’s favourite line

when plying his trade.

johan enegren

Stockholm

The picture accompanying the

news on Brexit in The world

this week (February 8th)

showed a number of Brexit

supporters waving Union Flags

that were upside down. As this

is a recognised way of signal-

ling distress, are they perhaps

reflecting the belief of many in

the country that trouble lies

ahead?

charles mortelman

London

Table for one

Regarding Bartleby’s “The

number of the best” (January

25th) I have always understood

that the ideal size of a commit-

tee is an odd number less than

three.

peter wilson

Kenilworth, Warwickshire